Decoding Dreams: Unraveling the Levels of Consciousness and Symbolism

1. Understanding of Dreams

2. A Quick look at the levels of consciousness (the id, ego and Super Ego) Conscious and preconscious (some) level is your ego Preconscious and Unconscious is your id Super Ego works at every level

3. According to Freud, dreams weredisguised,hallucinatoryfulfilmentofrepressedwishes.

4. He also asserted that dreams not only representedcurrent wishes,

5. but were also invariably expressions ofwish-fulfilmentsdating from earlychildhood.

6. Dreams, he believed, gaveindirect expressions toinfantilesexual wisheswhich had been repressed and which,…

7. if expressed in undisguised form, would so disturb the dreamer that he would wake up.

8. Because these wishes areunacceptableand potentiallydisturbing, they arecensoredanddisguised.

9. Freud described the mental processes, or “dream-work”, by which the dream was modified and rendered less disturbing.

10. These processes included;

11. Condensation, the fusing together of different ideas and images into a single image;

12. Displacement, in which a potentially disturbing image or idea is replaced by something connected but less disturbing;

13. Representation, the process by which thoughts are converted into visual images;

14. Symbolization, in which some neutral object stands for some aspect of sexual life or those persons connected with it which the dreamer would prefer not to recognize.

15. Classic Freudian Symbols:Phallic = anything projecting upward or outwardYonic = anything into which something could be placed

16. Freud introduced the term “manifest content” to describe what the dreamer recalled.

17. In contrast, the “latent content” was the hidden, true meaning of the dream.

18. This latent content could be ascertained only when thedreamer’s associationsto the images in the dream had been subjected topsychoanalytical scrutinyandinterpretation.

19. There were many other forms of dreams e.g.traumatic dreams,anxiety dreamsetc.

20. Carl Jung and the Collective Unconscious • Personal Unconscious • Freud vs. Jung • The personal unconscious contains repressed memories, painful ideas, and subliminal perceptions from an individual's life. • Collective Unconscious • Just as animals are guided by instincts, Jung feels there are universal archetypal images which we are programmed to respond to. • The collective unconscious contains those elements common to the tribe, the family, the nation, the race. • Jung noticed the similarities in the myths and fantasies of different times and places. These concepts account for such similarities and for the fact that mythological elements crop up in dreams, psychotic fantasies, and so on in individuals who have not been exposed to these mythic ideas in their lives.

21. Persona • Face we present to the world • Mask from Greek theater • Ego has limited grasp of whole Self • The psyche cannot be reduced to the ego. It embraces a much wider reality that Jung called the collective unconscious, and the lowest level of that unconscious is nature. • Dreams of nakedness, clothing, cosmetics, etc. may reflect persona issues

22. The Shadow • Dark shadow • The dark side of our nature… the part we disown and tend to project onto others • Bright shadow • Personal and collective • Dreams with negative, scary people of your same gender may express shadow issues

23. Relationship Between Persona and Shadow • Persona refers to the outer mask of the personality-- that which a person wishes to show the world while the shadow represents those feared and unknown parts that the person chooses to hide both from self and others. Both persona and shadow have collective and personal components. • The persona is a compromise between the individual and society. • The more rigid our persona, the darker our shadow. • The shadow is a necessary aspect.

24. Anima and Animus • The mostly unconscious feminine aspect in men • The mostly unconscious masculine aspect in women

25. Archetypes • Notion similar to Platonic idealism • The archetypes are certain regular motifs or consistently recurring types of situations or types of figures which arise from the collective experience and which can be found in mythology, e.g. • The wise old man or woman • The Great Mother • The Divine Child • The Trickster • The Hero • The Fool • The Villain • The Temptress • They give rise to our fantasy lives.

26. • The Wise Old Man • The Divine Child • The Trickster • The Hero • The Villain • The Temptress